


The Doranelle Dance Studio

by Fangirls4eva



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-04-24 17:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14360100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirls4eva/pseuds/Fangirls4eva
Summary: Aelin goes to Doranelle as a business trip. More of like a learning trip. The professional dancer and fighter dreads the trip. When she arrives, she is immediately pitted against Rowan Whitethorn and is also forced to train with her magical powers. Will they destroy each other or will they figure out their differences in the end?This work is currently of Hiatus because I've lost inspiration for it, but it might be continued later on.





	1. Chapter 1

Celaena was dead and she knew it. She couldn't even move. Her body was pinned to the mat and her opponent had her by the neck. There was only one option and the damage wouldn't be pretty. She kneed the guy between the legs and flipped him over. She stood up and roundhouse kicked him in the gut. After a few moves she had him pinned with no escape. She wasn't dead after all. But she felt like she was. She was past the point of pain, her body numb. 

The whistle blew after a few seconds. Good. The match was over. She stood up and swaggered toward the referee, completely ignoring her opponent. The crowd was so silent you could hear a pin drop. She held her hand out as the referee dropped four bundles of cash in her hand. The crowd roared as the money hit her hands. Four matches won, four bundles. She never lost. The crowd quieted done enough to here the referee say, “The winner, yet again, is Celaena Sardothien.” 

The crowd went wilder. She gave them a wave and silently leaved the platform. When she reached the training room she shed off her clothed and changed into cleaner ones. She snuck out before she could be stopped and headed home.

\---------------------

Celaena woke up wrapped in softness, her body sore. Memories of yesterday night flashed at her. She groaned. She knew that beating up the toughest guys in the vicinity was hard, and four matches, especially when in two of the matches she faced four guys at a time, but she didn't expect to be this sore. She groaned again. Today was transfer day. On transfer day, Madame Florine picked out names from a bowl to tell which dancer goes to which ballet studio. 

Here was the problem; She wasn't allowed to go to Terresen, Doranelle meant family problems, Eyllwe and Fenharrow were too sad, bad things always happened at Briarcliff, and the Silent Dancers were too gratifying. The only choice left was Melisande, but she had a one out of seven chance in getting Melisande. The odds were not in her favor. They never were. 

She sighed, and got out of bed. Today was going to be a very long day. She decided to started with a cold shower and a large amount of coffee.

\-----------------------

Celaena was stressing. She was warming up to try to calm her nerves, but her nerves refused to leave. Of course, she was the first person at the studio. She always was. She was here even before Madame Florine though. She muscles were still sore, but she could manage if it weren't for the headache. She was definitely stressing. 

She heard the door open and turned around to find Chaol and Dorian walk in. She inwardly groaned. If she has to talk to Chaol, who was her ex, the she was officially having the worst day ever. Dorian waved. She didn't even bother waving back. She was too stressed and frustrated to do so. 

The two men set their bags aside and walked toward her. As if her day could get any worse. Dorian was a close friend of hers but she was stressed. And when she was stressed, she honestly couldn't talk to anyone without snapping. 

“So, what are you up to?” Dorian asked. She glared at him. Chaol was not that far behind. Her glare deepened and she scowled. “I am stressing and warming up to calm that stressing and I am trying not to bite people’s heads of and I am trying to calm down. So if you would shut up I would be very grateful and scrat,” she snapped as she twirled, her leg nearly hitting Dorian in the face.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” said Dorian, “Calm down. What are you so stressed about?” Chaol had caught up to them, glaring at her. He hated her, she hated him, and she wouldn't have it any other way. 

“I'm stressed because I don't want to participate in this stupid transfer thing and I am trying to calm down and that is clearly now working and I was almost calm until you two came along and I am really sore and I have a headache and what the heck is your problem!” she near-yelled. She took a deep breath. She was definitely not calmly down. Usually dancing would do that for her, but she was super stressed. Dorian wrapped his arm around her shoulder and sighed. “Yeah, I know. The only place you want to go to is Melisande. But calm down. Nothing is going to happen. Who knows, you'll probably get Melisande.”

She sighed. “I know. I'm over reacting. I'm calm now. But I swear. If I go to anywhere but Melisande and something bad happens, I am quitting. I don't even care if I can bribe your father. I am cutting the contract.” 

Dorian nodded in understanding. Dorian’s father was the owner of this studio and when he heard that she was the best ballet dancer in miles he decided to hire her. To pursue her dream of dancing, she agreed. Not that she cared much anyway. It was mainly just to get away from them. 

She sighed again. Her words were honest, if something bad happened, she was quitting. More people started entering the studio. Only seven people would get chosen. In fact, there was a chance she might not be chosen. But the amount of times your name was put in the bowl, was equal to your skill level. And Celaena was really good and her skill level was really high.

She saw Madame Florine call them all in , so she headed over. She took a deep breath this was it. She was walking over to the table. She spotted the bowl. It looked evil. You could almost see the the darkness float out of it and hear it cackling, marking it as very dangerous and evil. This was the decider of her destiny, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celaena accepts her fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of just a filler chapter. Next chapter will probably have more action.

The world felt far away. All she could hear was those words. “And going to Doranelle is… Lillian Gordiana.” Madame Florine’s voice was echoing in her head, rest of the sounds afar. She felt if she was underwater. The clapping and the voices felt as is in we're in another world. Even Dorian, who was shaking her real hard, felt miles away.  
When the world finally came into focus, only she and Dorian were in the studio. They sat down in a comfortable silence. Doranelle. That was the worst of all of them. That's where Maeve was. And it wasn't really family problems. More of family extremities. They were really really bad. She sighed. Dorian looked up. “Hey, I've gotta go, ok. Talk to you later, alright?” She nodded.  
Celaena felt tired. Super tired. Like she couldn’t even bother to move tired. Emotionally tired. And she hated it. But out of all of them, she was really hoping Doranelle was not the one. If it were any of the other ones she didn’t want to go to, she would have probably thought to herself something along the lines of, at least I didn’t get Doranelle. But she couldn’t even do that.  
If there was anything her parents were against, it was going to Doranelle. She’d already been to every other place. But Doranelle, that was where magic ran rampant. And magic was a curse. More of curse than anything else in the world. If there was drought, a farmer would say, “Well at least I don’t have magic.”  
Just as Celaena got up, Lysandra walked into the room. She was wearing a green, gauzy tutu that matched her eyes. It was definitely against dress code, but nobody argued with Lysandra. Just like nobody argued with Celaena. Lysandra’s dark locks bounced as she rushed toward. “I heard what happened! Out of all of the places! Doranelle! I wasn’t there because I not doing it this year. But, really! Like what! But like I’m pretty sure I could get someone to switch with you! I’m sure Kaltain would love to switch!”  
Celaena sighed. “I sure I can handle this. I’ll go.”  
Lysandra stopped moving in shock and tilted her head in concern. “Are you sure?”  
Celaena wasn’t really sure, but she wanted to try. She wanted to prove that she could face her tyrannical and bloodthirsty aunt and live. Emerge triumphant. She might have been insane, but like whatever. All heroes were insane when they made heroic decisions. So she nodded her head. “Yeah, positive.”  
Lysandra looked at her uncertainly. “Okaaaay. Whatever you wish.”  
Lysandra left and she sighed. She should probably leave too. She needed to pack. She got up and left. She had so many things to do and so little patience.  
———  
Celaena all but gave up on stuffing her books into her bag. She wanted to bring at least twenty five but only twenty fit. She could take two books and stuff them in her purse and another three in her carry-on bag, but then they won’t fit in the limit. She sighed, the Divergent series and Hunger Games got to go. She would never give up on the Percy Jackson series or Heroes of Olympus.  
She started digging out those books when she heard the door open up behind her. “What is it Dorian?”  
She could feel him grin. “Well, I was wondering how you’re doing.”  
Celaena sighed. “Fine. Just looking for some books to take out.”  
Dorian gasped. “Why would you take out books?!?”  
She sighed again. She was probably sighing to much, but she couldn’t help it. “Because they don’t fit.”  
“Oh.”  
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah.”  
She could hear him heading toward the door. “Well you keep on doing what you’re doing, and I’ll leave you to it.” She almost smiled when she heard the door close.  
It used to be fun to talk to people. To have friends that care. It even made her happy once. But now, it felt like a chore. Like something she had to do. It took effort to talk, to be friendly, to smile. It took effort to do something that used to be effortless, fun. Even dancing, ballet, was harder these days. Some days, it was exhausting to even get out of bed. She wanted to live, she truly did, but sometimes it was just an effort to survive.  
She sighed, she did that more often these days. She d to roll her eyes, do her signature half-amused smirk. But know, she just sighed. She was too tired to do anything else, even though most days she just slept. Sighing, yet again, she finished packing and flopped on to her bed.  
She should be worried. Her mother’s only wish was for her not to go to Doranelle. But her mother wanted it for her own safety. And she was safe. She was always safe. And if it wasn’t, she’ll make sure she can get out- She sighed again. She knew she was getting weaker. Even though she was winning all of her stage fights, she was getting weaker. She could see it in the way she moved, her heavy breaths. She knew she could survive- if only she had the energy to do so. And she might one day- if she had enough rest.  
So she closed her eyes, just wishing for the sweet illusions of sleep to take her away. And it soon did. She felt peace. For sleep was the only place she could find it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's that. If you liked this then please kudo or comment and thanks for the kudos so far!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celaena reaches Doranelle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, look, a new chapter! It was fun. Celaena uses her powers, which you should enjoy for now because that isn't happening any time soon.

The plane ride was peaceful. Celaena couldn’t have cared less. She was going to Doranelle. So? It was just another place. She just have to be one more person. Wear one more mask. Do what she needed to do. And leave peacefully. And nobody would think about her again. But she knew it was a little more complicated. A little more… severe. Different consequences if caught. But she could handle it. She always could. She had survived for this long. She can survive for longer.

  
One of her neighbors on the plane was throwing up. Another was slurping his coke as loud as humanely possible. But it was strangely peaceful. Quiet. Calm. Or maybe that was just her.

  
But made her feel peaceful. Quiet. Calm. And she liked it. It made her feel ready. Ready for anything. Because she could rattle the stars, if only she dared. And she could remember that even if hurt her later.

  
———

  
Doranelle was… well it not exactly plain. It was more of dark. Cruel. How anyone can stand to live here, she had no idea. Well, you live in Adarlan. But that’s different, she argued. Maybe it isn’t as different as you think. Perhaps it’s worse. Shut up, she told the voice inside her head. Strangely, it listened. The thought unnerved her more than it should have.

  
As she looked around she realized this was not the sort of place where you could just start fights for fun. She was disappointed. Both at the fact she couldn’t start a fight randomly, and that she was disappointed that she couldn’t start a fight randomly. Her life was probably the saddest one in existence. She brain didn’t know what to feel about that.

  
As she walked around, she realized Doranelle was more of a forest. There were trees everywhere, vines covering every building. She couldn’t say she was surprised by this, but the coldness was a little shocking. When she saw pictures, it always seemed bright, like the perfect utopia. She didn’t expect the darkness to be so prominent. She could practically feel the slums south of where she was.

  
She was looking for studio, but she couldn’t find it on maps or on any street. So she stopped. She simply wandered around, aimlessly. If you couldn’t find trouble, then let trouble find you. That was her life motto. Celaena followed it relentlessly.  
She also followed trouble relentlessly. And where there was screaming, there was trouble. And where there was trouble there was things to do. So she followed the sound of the screams, hoping to find something to do.

  
—————-

  
When Celaena finally stopped, she saw the fire. And freaked. She could feel it singing in her blood. _Come, dance with us. What do you want, Fire-wielder? Destruction? Chaos? We’ll stop if you wish it. Come dance with us, Fire-wielder._ She wanted to raise the destruction. She wanted to burn the world. But the screaming cut her out of it.

  
Celaena knew she could stop it. Knew she could make it go away. But that would involve control over her powers. Control over her, the fires. Control over everything. And that was something she didn’t have. That’s when her mind started whispering. _You’ve always been good at getting rid of fires. You’ve always managed to do that. Starting fires is the hard thing. But you can do this. You can help._

  
She rolled her shoulders. She could put out a bonfire. She could do this. Admittedly, this was much bigger. She could try. She focused on the fire. Matched she pulse to its pulse. The fire started chanting. Come with us. Let us grow. We can destroy the world. No, she told it, we’ll save that for another time. Right now, you have to leave.

  
She took a deep breath and tried to extinguish it. It was hard. To suffocate the fire, she had to nearly suffocate herself. And the lack of breathing went against her body’s wishes, but when she tried to breath the fire grew, not enough to undo the work she’s done, but still a lot.

  
Finally the fire was only a little more than a torch. Without breathing she stamped it out. When the fire disappeared she jolted and her eyes opened. She doesn’t know when she closed her but when they opened, she could see the big crowd gathered around the building that was burning. As they left, she could hear stuff like, “-everyone that was in the building is okay,” “-and no explanation!” “no fatal injuries,” “it just disappeared,” “can it be?” “firefighters say it just vanished,” “a Fire-wielder?”.

  
Celaena just stood there. She had forgotten how unique her power was. A full-blooded Fire-wielder hasn’t been seen for more than a century. She nearly groaned. Now she had just announced she presence to the whole world. She was so busy moping she almost didn’t realize the man that was heading toward her.

  
When she noticed him about five feet away he said, “You must by Aelin Ashryver Galathynius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed this fic please kudo or comment because that definitely keep the chapters coming!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ride on horses. Inner monologue. Lots of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this fic has been on a break for a long while because I lost inspiration but I managed to write something so I decided I should post this. Unfortunately this under no circumstances means this will start updating more often.

Celaena honestly didn’t know what she was doing. The man lead her to a mare and told her to ride it. He also introduced himself as Rowan. He climbed on his horse and then motioned for her to follow. So that’s what she was doing. Following him.

Somehow, they were out of the city. Celaena doesn’t know when it happened, but it did, because now instead of tall marble buildings it was golden prairie grasses. She found it a bit more comforting than the tall buildings, even though she was more used to a city environment. Somehow, the buildings in Doranelle seemed sinister, like dark looming shadows. But the grasses weren’t any less scary. They seemed haunting, if you stepped too close they might drag you in. Rowan seemed to laugh at her uneasy.

She hardly managed to not glare at him. He was silent, which Celaena was thankful for, but he had this aura of pride, as if he were the most important person in the world. Frankly, she didn’t like his attitude, or posture, or the way he carried himself, or… well pretty much everything about him in general. It wasn’t really her place to judge, but he wasn’t trying to prove himself otherwise.

But hating him made it easier for her to forget the looming shadows around her. The darkness was creeping through her skin, darkness that the magic in her veins couldn’t even keep away. Yes, hate was easier. Sometimes it was better to join the darkness than to fight it. 

Sitting on a mare for this long was quite uncomfortable. Her back ached, and she couldn’t really stretch. Celaena knew that when she got of, her thighs would be dead. Hate made everything easier. Hate blinded people, hate made people ignorant. And ignorance was the way she rather live her life. Because a thousand lies are more painful than that of one truth. If only she could be more ignorant now.

They had been riding for hours, but the view didn’t change. From buildings to grasses to more grasses. If it weren’t for the sun and the sky, she would have thought they they were stuck in time, endless wandering in circles across the grass plains. Unfortunately, the walking in circles might be true. She hasn’t seen anything new in ages.

She looked at her riding partner, Rowan. He didn’t seem confused or lost, so they must be going on the right track. Or he was one of those people who just refused to believe they were lost. Or his job was to walk them in circles until she became lost to where they were and then start a diabolical plan or something. Celaena was hoping it was the former.

Rowan, somehow sensing her thoughts, said, “If you can’t tell, we’re almost there.”

Celaena was about to ask where was there when she saw the mountain in the distance. When they had started riding, the mountains were so far away they were just a line in the horizon. But now, it would take about 50 miles to get there. Still a lot, but not as much. How long had they been riding? Celaena doesn’t remember when they had started.

Suddenly her back was aching and her arms and legs were stiff. They had probably been like that for a long time, but she had probably just noticed them since she had been wondering how long they had been riding. Celaena would have groaned if Rowan weren’t next to her. He shouldn’t have spoken.

Celaena ignored the pain. She always ignored the pain. Whether emotion or physical, she ignored it until it ate her up and she passed out from exhaustion. She waited until the pain made her sob without tears, she waited until she couldn’t move, paralyzed in fear of it overcoming her. 

Celaena shook her head. Too deep. If she kept going she might start questioning her existence. Besides, this one way road trip was not for rethinking her life. She came here to dance. Well,she actually came her because she had to, but still. She came here to dance. And dance without fear she will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the short update.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, please comment, kudo, and check out run4allison.com!


End file.
